Proposed task force seeks to end hunger in PH by 2030

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the creation of the Zero Hunger Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) was among the agendas tackled during the Cabinet meeting in Malacañan Palace on Monday night. (Shutterstock Photo)

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved a proposal to draft an executive order (EO) creating a task force that seeks to eradicate hunger in the country by 2030, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the creation of the Zero Hunger Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) was among the agendas tackled during the Cabinet meeting in Malacañan Palace on Monday night.

“In a bid to fast-track the government’s campaign to fight hunger, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles presented the proposed EO on the creation of an Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger,” Panelo said in a statement.

Nograles said the new task force will formulate a national food policy to ensure the attainment of zero hunger and poverty eradication, consistent with the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan.

“It is apparent that current efforts aren’t enough, and that at this point, an inter-agency task force that can focus and align the different work being done to address the different aspects of hunger is needed,” he said in a separate statement.

Nograles emphasized that the plan is to reduce hunger by 25 percent two-and-a-half years after the EO is issued.

Eventually, the EO plans to cut hunger incidence by half in five years after the issuance of the EO, and by 75 percent within seven-and-a-half years.

According to Nograles, the task force will rationalize existing domestic laws, decrees, policies and issuances pertinent to the alleviation of hunger and poverty, consistent with international laws and treaty obligations; identify and ensure the institutional responsibilities of concerned government agencies.

It will also coordinate with concerned government agencies and local government units, in consultation with civil society organizations, for the conduct of objective impact assessments on relevant programs of action among other tasks.

Nograles will chair the task force with the Department of Social Development and Welfare and Department of Agriculture designated as vice chairs.

It will be composed of 36 officials –the Executive Secretary and the heads of national agencies, plus the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor, Office of Civil Defense administrator, Commission on Higher Education chairperson, Philippine Commission on Urban Poor chairperson, Philippine Commission on Women chairperson, Food and Drug Administration director general, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples executive director, National Nutrition Council executive director, National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor, and Food and Nutrition Research Institute director.

Citing data from the DSWD, Nograles said 2.4 million families experienced moderate to extreme hunger in 2018, 13.7 million Filipino children are undernourished, and a fifth of Filipinos children until the age of five are underweight.